Release of Emergency Funds to Russian Banks

On October 7th, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev announced a decision to release a subordinated loan to the largest Russian banks in the aggregate amount of 950 billion RUR. The loan will have a 5-year maturity. The recipients are: Sberbank - up to 500 billion; VTB - up to 200 billion; Rosselhozbank - up to 25 billion; all other banks - up to 225 billion.

Republic of Georgia's National Bank Stops Credit Operations and Credit Card Services

Georgy Kalandadze, customer relations director of the National Bank of the Republic of Georgia, announced today a temporary stop order on all credit operations and credit card services by the National Bank of Georgia. Pursuant to the order, all commercial banks in the country should likewise halt all credit operations, including credit card services till the end ot the current week. The announcement states that there are no liquidity problems with any commercial bank in the Republic of Georgia. In the even ot such problems the National Bank of Georgia is prepared to open up its foreign exchange reserves.